Proto-Macro-Jädewan was spoken south of the Messerini line; as one might expect from this, the culture is matriarchal in nature. The language itself recognizes two genders, conventionally referred to as “feminine” and “masculine”; these, however, could also be analyzed as “count” vs. “mass/collective”. Feminines/count nouns distinguish a singular, a dual, and a plural, whereas masculines/mass nouns distinguish between collective and singulative.
Feminine/count nouns
The singular is prototypically the bare stem:
*štæž ‘yellow plant sp.’
*bírš ‘bullwhip’
*zlæršler ‘waterfall; curtain’
*lúžlol ‘image’
*hɛ́rhæ ‘tongue’
*štod ‘die (of a set of dice)’
*žlíršúm ‘half of the body (divided vertically)’
*θtærl ‘gate’
To form a dual, there are several strategies; which one you use depends on the coda. In all cases they force a high tone on the final stem vowel.
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After an obstruent, it’s *-is: *štǽžis ‘yellow plant sp.’, *bíršis ‘bullwhip’.
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Final nasals simply denasalize into voiced stops: *žlíršúb ‘body’.
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Final *-Vr and *-Vl geminate the consonant; this triggers an allophonic process: *zlæršléts ‘two waterfalls; two curtains’, *lúžlótł ‘two images’.
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Final *-rl becomes *-st: *θtǽst ‘gates’.
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Else, it’s *-ɛ́ after a consonant and *-y after a vowel: *štódɛ́ ‘(pair of) dice’, *hɛ́rhǽy ‘two tongues’.
Plurals force a low tone on the final stem vowel and typically involve some suffixed or infixed *k. This *k appears directly preceding the final consonant, devoices adjacent obstruents, and generates a final *-ú if an unwieldy cluster is formed (e.g., if the singular ends in *-Vrl, the plural is *-Vrklú):
*štækšú ‘yellow plant sp.’
*birkšú ‘bullwhip’
*zlæršlekrú ‘waterfall; curtain’
*lúžloklú ‘image’
*hɛ́rhæk ‘tongue’
*štoktú ‘die (of a set of dice)’
*žlíršukmú ‘half of the body (divided vertically)’
*θtærklú ‘gate’
Masculine/mass nouns
Much like with the feminines, the bare stem is the default—except here it’s typically specified for collectives, masses, substances, and the like. The singulative marker is a low-tone echo vowel of the final stem vowel, but if this follows a vowel itself, it converts to the appropriate semivowel (*æ > *y, *a > *w).
*bɔ́lh ‘men’ > *bɔ́lhɔ ‘man’
*θlɛl ‘water’ > *θlɛlɛ ‘drop(let); tear’
*škél ‘skeleton, bones’ > *škéle ‘bone’
*ðžɛ́rp ‘(school of) fish’ > *ðžɛ́rpɛ ‘(a) fish’
*ðžon ‘quinoa; food’ > *ðžono ‘(serving of) food, meal’
*łǽž ‘wind’ > *łǽžæ ‘gust’
*θórž ‘eelskin’ > *θóržo ‘eel skin’
*łlord ‘lightning’ > *łlordo ‘lightning bolt’
*bæšólh ‘day’ > *bæšólho ‘hour’
You can also call multiple instances of a singulative with the preposed particle *æd (*æn before a nasal, *æt before a voiceless obstruent): *æd bæšólho ‘hours’.